Remember that post, “You are what you eat…“? I eat fat. Therefore I’m fa… oh wait, I’m not. Well, like everyone I have some fat for insulation but it’s a good amount which has a purpose and it is not excessive so it causes harm to the body or health problems, alhamdulillaah, all praise is to Allaah. We all need some fat on us, don’t forget that, it’s just a case of not being obese and unhealthy so when losing weight, dont be the sort of person who obsesses about a little extra weight. This is one serious misconception (that fat is bad) that people need to get out of their heads. In fact, since turning paleo I’ve been eating more fat and losing weight. No, I’m not on the Atkins diet, I don’t believe in such nonsense and the paleo diet is not like that at all. Atkins is all about deep fried food, processed oils and so on. Whereas paleo is about consuming the fat that naturally occurs and can be made without processing it excessively or adding chemicals and so on.

These days I cook separately for myself at home now seeing as everyone eats a gluten and grain filled diet. I cook with ghee (clarified butter – not the kind you buy from an Asian shop or the from the ‘World foods aisle’ in a supermarket) and butter mostly which only comes from grass fed cows and occasionally I use a very light spray of extra virgin olive oil and even I cook with coconut oil (coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, not a liquid and it’s not any old cheap brand, I buy Pukka organic coconut oil – so expensive hence why I still only own one jar, plus it’s an acquired taste). If I’m cooking meat I simply reduce the amount of fat I add to the meal or omit it completely, depending on how fatty the meat is.

I usually have someone watch me cook if we’re standing about and chatting and even though I cook with these fats regular folk label as being “bad”, everyone tells me I look healthier and happier (and I feel it too!) So what’s going on? Why aren’t I a morbidly obese person, rolling about, feeling lazy, tired with achy joints, muscles and so on? How am I eating more fat and getting slimmer and healthier?

I have done no exercise since August, I kid you not. I wasn’t very active for the entire year before that in fact yet I have lost all that excess weight I gained and am now back down to my dress size and weight when I was in college. There is a wide range of non-gut problems I had and I’ve not mentioned them on the blog but it’s amazing how all these problems had no real or known cause and then suddenly they all vanished when I cut out gluten! Well, I say no gut problems but I guess if gluten was affecting my weight then I guess maybe there were some… coeliac is such a weird disease because the symptoms vary so much.

Going back to my original point of why I’m not unhealthy yet I’m eating fat, it’s simple. I’m eating real food, fats which are good for us, fats which the body can use properly and they don’t just get stored as fat in all those troublesome areas such as the tummy. Yes, I’m eating more saturated fats and everything out there tells us it’s bad for us, it causes high cholesterol and so on but for so many people it’s cause the opposite effect and it’s made them much healthier – only when they change their diet permanently and start eating real food.

Weight gain and weight loss isn’t (entirely) about how much we move and how much we eat. It’s more to do with what we eat. I know because I’m an example. I didn’t exercise on purpose when I went GF and paleo, firstly because it was Ramadhaan and it was Summer and secondly because if my problems were diet related then a change in diet should fix it, right? I was also eating more food by the time I went GF so it showed me that portion sizes were not an issue either. That said, I wasn’t eating massive portions of food, just a little more spread out across the day. I would wake up and eat breakfast earlier and aim for an earlier dinner so my body could rest and digest my food for at least 2-3 hours before going to bed.

If anything, the food that makes us fat is all these nasty complex foods made with dozens of ingredients, most of which we wouldn’t be able to recognise if they were put in front of us and others which we can’t even pronounce! We’re living in an age where people are obsessed with fad diets, nobody understands or even attempts to educate themselves about why they’re getting fat, why they have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart and lung diseases. All we know is this: we’re getting fat and we we want to lose weight so we select the “quick fix”. This “fix” isn’t even a fix, in fact, it’s probably doing you more harm than good.

When people want to lose weight they think they need to eat less fat or less sugar so they choose “low fat” and “no added sugar” alternatives. Have you even read the labels to low fat and low sugar foods?? No? Well I suggest you do. Processed foods have to taste good somehow and whether you’ll admit to it or not, we all know fat tastes good. Taste a bit of grass-fed butter (Anchor or KerryGold) and try telling me it doesn’t taste nice. So, when food claims to be “low fat” it just means they’ve added a whole bunch of other nasties in it to make up for the lack of taste and these nasties are in the form of chemicals. Same goes for “no added sugar” foods.

Anyway, back in September when I went to visit the Doctors about my GF and new diet plans I was told to consume gluten for all three meals for ten days running and then they’d test me for coeliac and gluten sensitivity. I’ve heard since then that gluten remains in your body for at least a further six months or so. Hence me eating more gluten to be diagnosed is a big fat lie plus in my case it would be considered as self-harm which Islaam is totally against.
So I thought, why don’t I get this blood test done now and at the same time have my cholesterol checked seeing as I eat more fat on this paleo diet. My cholesterol levels were okay the last time I checked which was probably around two years ago, can’t remember the specific number but it was fine.

I genuinely believe a paleo diet is the way to go (I’ll post proof during the upcoming days, Islamic and otherwise) but so many people frown upon this eating fat thing. I’d like to (nervously) prove those skeptics wrong by using my own blood results. That means tomorrow I’m off to have a blood test! I’m not sure how long I’ll have to wait for the results as I dunno if coeliac/gluten-sensitivity testing takes longer than other tests. Honestly, I’d be gutted if I had high cholesterol levels or something because then that’d mean I was wrong even though I am better in every other aspect, it’s making me a lot more nervous now! But I do have faith in this because I know I eat right so there’s generally nothing for me to be concerned about really.

Plus it’d be a good time to have cholesterol checked seeing as I’m going to start having dairy/milk daily from Tuesday inshaaAllaah, God Willing. – I went a little over the top and ordered a whole bunch of raw milk, butter and cream. All will be explained and I know it’s very un-paleo but my religion comes first. Please keep an eye out for posts regarding Raw milk and the prophetic medicine etc.